Some info. The guys with the white handkerchiefs are 'Morris Dancers', who do traditional English village dancing. The main scene is like a medieval fayre with a maypole and dancing. That is the backdrop to the song.
I only ever saw clips of this video as a kid and I always loved it and wanted to see more. It was probably not cool then or now but it's fun and it's funny and the music and lyrics are great. This was the era of the original Star Wars films and Time Bandits and the video reminded me of those films with its odd mix of characters that seemed to be on a quest. Incidently the little guy Mike Edmonds was actually in Time Bandits. The band were Canadian but the video was filmed in England. Only the lead singer of the band, Ivan Doroschuk, appeared in the video.
you wouldnt understand it unless u were there back in the day high in the mountains with a bunch of buddies trippin' off ur tree to the Folk of the 80s..Happy Days
This band is still together as far as I know and still performing in Europe and since they're one-hit-wonders they're STILL pushing that song as the reason for these concerts.
I love that "safety dance" move because it makes a giant S (I assume for "safety"). Hilarious stuff and a great example of how much fun some pop hits in the 1980s were.
Great 80s song. I had a CD i bought in early 2008. I use play it in car with my sons. I told them you do robot dance with.it..lol. My sons are 19 and 17 and all they listen to is older music. Im so.proud..lol
I remember being in beauty school and this song came on, and my instructor just started flailing around, and I was like, “what the heck are you doing!?” And she just said, “the safety dance!” 😂
I BINGE WATCH THIS CHANNEL. I can't wait until you post a new video. I'm a disabled Veteran, and I spend most of my time in bed, or in my wheelchair, and regular TV gets old. Your channel is entertaining and your reactions are, sometimes, hilarious. Thank you so much for what you do. It absolutely makes my day. God bless you...and your wife. 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍😁😁😁😁😁
this song was a mantra for dancing, slam dancing, pogoing, acting silly dancing. they encouraged their audience to dance any way they wanted to. i was in Germany when this song came out.
Thank you for doing this song/reaction. This song reminds me of my pre-teens/early teen years of innocence and happiness. This song always makes me happy (a good nostalgia). It's a catchy upbeat silly song/video...it makes me smile and feel happy. Sometimes I am intense/serious and this lightens my mood. Thank you :)
It reminds me of that new channel MTV that played music videos. There was no template or standard so we got all kind of experiments to entertain us. Some of it was so far out you had to wonder if they lived in the same universe 😂
This was filmed here in south-west England. That dancing some of them were doing around a pole with ribbons near the end of the video; that's Maypole Dancing. I think it goes back to some old pagan thing, but they STILL do it in the UK. I had to do it at school when I was about 6 or 7. XD Thankfully I never had to do Morris dancing (the long line of guys in white shirts smashing poles together.
Have you checked out Bill Withers yet from the 70's. He was a great R & B singer. Best songs are Use Me and Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone. Think you would enjoy!!
Totally 80's I was in my early 20s and having a blast, loved this song and the crazy videos on mtv ,did you know they used to play video's on mtv back then lol great memories thx...♡
This was the short version, the intro was cut out. He wrote this song after being kicked out of a club because they didn't like the way he was dancing, if I remember correctly he was told he was dancing too wildly. When my kids were younger I used to play this song in the car just to annoy them.
OMG, they cut out the best part of the song!!! Sing it with me! "S-S-S-S! A-A-A-A! F-F-F-F! E-E-E-E! T-T-T-T! Y-Y-Y-Y! SAFE! SAFE! SAFETY! DANCE! DANCE! DANCE! DANCE!"
Okay, my bad: I never knew there was a remix! So it only took me 35+ years to find this out, LOL. Here's the version I was thinking of: ua-cam.com/video/nP4KLi3KwIo/v-deo.html
It's nice to know that you enjoyed the songs that'll be in the back of your head for the rest of your life. Trust me when I say that it'll always come back when you least expect it
This is definitely a song on the soundtrack of my life. Like you said, it’s a freeing song. For me, it represents carefree and happy and makes me want to dance :)
Ah the 80’s! This song is a definite ear worm, hear it in the morning, you’d be singing it all day. Part of an English heritage/ new romantic genre. (The men dancing in the background with sticks are called Morris men, who go from village to village and dance to bring good luck and health and ward off evil. These days generally in the summer and near a pub!) Try also Swords of a thousand men by Tenpole Tudor and Stand and deliver by Adam Ant. Love that your reaction videos are so eclectic Ty and this brought back great memories of my early twenties. 🥰
Where are you coming up with all these blasts from the past, Ty? "Bein high & swatting at things that aren't even there" Just about fell out of my chair laughing.
The meaning of the song is a protest against people not allowed to "pogo" dance in night clubs. Bar owners and bouncers thought the crowed would get out of hand and stop them.
I don't know if its true but i heard they banned certain dancing for teenagers in Germany back in the day. Well at least provocative dancing so they could do a 'SAFETY DANCE' as a way round it. Kinda like footloose i think haha. Such a fun song
LOL wow took me back some years with this one My Friend..a song that I couldn't understand then and still can't LOL..but catchy still..TY Keep Well Keep Strong My friend
These guys were actually punk rockers who were getting thrown out of clubs for Slam Dancing. So they actually wrote this song making fun of the clubs. Now as for their name they were actually from a very cold climate and they refuse to wear hats that would throw off their outfits so they became Men Without Hats.
FYI this was in response to bouncers throwing out "pogoing" dancers out of clubs. When New Wave emerged "pogoing" came with it, that was basically just jumping straight up and down with arms at your sides, but then others took it to the extreme with slam dancing and bouncers just started tossing anyone that was dancing that way. And Thus the song, a protest to unfair bias of the "safer" pogoing as opposed to the more dangerous slam dancing.
To this day I have no idea what the safety dance was supposed to be all about, but I have fun singing along all the same. First heard on the radio in the '80s.
The video is an instructional on how to perform the safety dance. It burns calories. In real life, the closest I've come to doing the safety dance is after making an eagle in golf.
I grew to hate this song, but only because I had to play it so many times. However, one of those great cheesy early MTV videos, back when MTV was actually music videos 24/7. Oh, BTW, it was released in 1982. Check out "She Blinded Me With Science" by Thomas Dolby, of the video that changed everything, "Sledgehammer" by Peter Gabriel.
It's about mosh pits, he was really into the punk scene and loved pits. At the time bouncers would stop you or kick you out. So this was him telling them to back off and let the kids dance because it was safe. The more you know.
I always thought this video was funny and the song is actually fairly catchy. I remember the MTV show 'Beavis and Butthead' making fun of the video. I think that is actually the first time I had ever heard the song was from that show LOL
The song was about how kids in Montreal (where the band was from) kept getting into trouble for ‘dangerous’ dancing, like pogoing or slam dancing, and civic officials were going to regulate what dances were allowed. So,the song was sort of making of fun of that with a ‘safety dance’ that would be allowed, and how ridiculous the whole idea was.
Loved loved loved this bro @MRM I’m watching this with my 5yr old niece and she also was copying the hand actions 😅😅. She made up a few lines of her own “you can dance you can dance everybody look at your pants” 🤦♀️😂😂😂 #TheSimpsons hahaha 🤣🤣
I was thinking about thus song the other week. I was with some friends at a Turkish cultural festival and we heard someone say something that sounded like lyrics from this song. I'm not sure if it was intentional or not, but all three of us simultaneously broke out into song like we were in a musical.
Most '80s videos made absolutely no sense. That's the beauty of them. The fact that the song is sung by a guy who can NOT dance at all is even better. This song hit in fall of 1983; there were two versions. This was the hit single, but the full-length album version which was more minimally arranged also got played on the radio a lot. Men Without Hats had another hit single about 3 or 4 years later with "Pop Goes the World," but that's it for their chart successes. "The Safety Dance" hit #3 late in 1983.
You should check out the literal video / lyrics version of this song and film clip. Soooo funny. Love this original song so much as well . Makes you want to tap your toes :)
This song has aged so well over 40 yrs. Hilarious reaction.
Some info. The guys with the white handkerchiefs are 'Morris Dancers', who do traditional English village dancing. The main scene is like a medieval fayre with a maypole and dancing. That is the backdrop to the song.
I only ever saw clips of this video as a kid and I always loved it and wanted to see more. It was probably not cool then or now but it's fun and it's funny and the music and lyrics are great. This was the era of the original Star Wars films and Time Bandits and the video reminded me of those films with its odd mix of characters that seemed to be on a quest. Incidently the little guy Mike Edmonds was actually in Time Bandits. The band were Canadian but the video was filmed in England. Only the lead singer of the band, Ivan Doroschuk, appeared in the video.
you wouldnt understand it unless u were there back in the day high in the mountains with a bunch of buddies trippin' off ur tree to the Folk of the 80s..Happy Days
This is one of the most fun songs and videos of the 80s.
This song was huge when it came out - back when I was in high school.
Yes i remember it well
This band is still together as far as I know and still performing in Europe and since they're one-hit-wonders they're STILL pushing that song as the reason for these concerts.
In 1987 they had Pop Goes The World
This video is like Game of Thrones: The College Years.
🤣🤣 thanks for that.
School of Thrones:
ua-cam.com/video/DY6dvlMfntw/v-deo.html
The 80s were a strange and challenging time very few of us came through completely sane.
Is that what's wrong with me today? ha ha ha. Seriously, I'm feeling much better now.
I don't think none of us came out untouched
Sanity is over-rated lol
Never a truer word stated!
The 80’s were “totally awesome!”
I love that "safety dance" move because it makes a giant S (I assume for "safety"). Hilarious stuff and a great example of how much fun some pop hits in the 1980s were.
Great 80s song. I had a CD i bought in early 2008. I use play it in car with my sons. I told them you do robot dance with.it..lol. My sons are 19 and 17 and all they listen to is older music. Im so.proud..lol
This one didnt have the beginning that cd had..lol
Love this song.
Wendy Austin.....my kids loved it too....they made me do the Safety Dance with them! A definite 80's song!
I really loved this song back in the 80s.
Love this song 🥰✨👍🏾💜
I love this song. I used to watch the video on MTV. I mention MTV a lot because it really had an impact on my life when I was a teenager.
I remember being in beauty school and this song came on, and my instructor just started flailing around, and I was like, “what the heck are you doing!?” And she just said, “the safety dance!” 😂
there should be a way to make ty an official member of men without hats
I BINGE WATCH THIS CHANNEL.
I can't wait until you post a new video.
I'm a disabled Veteran, and I spend most of my time in bed, or in my wheelchair, and regular TV gets old.
Your channel is entertaining and your reactions are, sometimes, hilarious.
Thank you so much for what you do. It absolutely makes my day.
God bless you...and your wife.
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍😁😁😁😁😁
this song was a mantra for dancing, slam dancing, pogoing, acting silly dancing. they encouraged their audience to dance any way they wanted to.
i was in Germany when this song came out.
Thank you for doing this song/reaction. This song reminds me of my pre-teens/early teen years of innocence and happiness. This song always makes me happy (a good nostalgia). It's a catchy upbeat silly song/video...it makes me smile and feel happy. Sometimes I am intense/serious and this lightens my mood. Thank you :)
It reminds me of that new channel MTV that played music videos. There was no template or standard so we got all kind of experiments to entertain us. Some of it was so far out you had to wonder if they lived in the same universe 😂
I think your real name is Jenny? Lol.
This was filmed here in south-west England. That dancing some of them were doing around a pole with ribbons near the end of the video; that's Maypole Dancing. I think it goes back to some old pagan thing, but they STILL do it in the UK. I had to do it at school when I was about 6 or 7. XD Thankfully I never had to do Morris dancing (the long line of guys in white shirts smashing poles together.
Ah the early 80's, I'm surprised so many of us survived it.
😂
Have you checked out Bill Withers yet from the 70's. He was a great R & B singer. Best songs are Use Me and Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone. Think you would enjoy!!
Totally 80's I was in my early 20s and having a blast, loved this song and the crazy videos on mtv ,did you know they used to play video's on mtv back then lol great memories thx...♡
Connie Leighton He needs to check out some Adam Ant...
When MTV was Music Television!! I remember! Memories!
I'm probably the youngest to say this but I also remember
This was the short version, the intro was cut out. He wrote this song after being kicked out of a club because they didn't like the way he was dancing, if I remember correctly he was told he was dancing too wildly. When my kids were younger I used to play this song in the car just to annoy them.
OMG, they cut out the best part of the song!!! Sing it with me!
"S-S-S-S!
A-A-A-A!
F-F-F-F!
E-E-E-E!
T-T-T-T!
Y-Y-Y-Y!
SAFE! SAFE! SAFETY!
DANCE! DANCE! DANCE! DANCE!"
Okay, my bad: I never knew there was a remix! So it only took me 35+ years to find this out, LOL. Here's the version I was thinking of:
ua-cam.com/video/nP4KLi3KwIo/v-deo.html
Love this song. Loved it since it came out when I was in high school. Happy, happy dance. :)
Oh this will be and was good. Love this song. Happy you experience it. This was in 80s my young years lol. Good memories of this song.
It's nice to know that you enjoyed the songs that'll be in the back of your head for the rest of your life. Trust me when I say that it'll always come back when you least expect it
This is a great song from the 80's... You're gonna make Dr Vicky very happy with this one.
Robert Hilburn was a rock critic for the Los Angeles Times. He called this group “Men without Talent”. 😅
Filmed in the village of West Kington, in Wiltshire, England.
Beautiful part of the country.
I never listened to the 80s music until the 2000s because working in radio shack this channel was a safe channel. I liked it on there
The goofy blonde girl in the video, Louise Court, went on to be the Editor in Chief at Cosmopolitan Magazine.
This is definitely a song on the soundtrack of my life. Like you said, it’s a freeing song. For me, it represents carefree and happy and makes me want to dance :)
Ah the 80’s! This song is a definite ear worm, hear it in the morning, you’d be singing it all day. Part of an English heritage/ new romantic genre. (The men dancing in the background with sticks are called Morris men, who go from village to village and dance to bring good luck and health and ward off evil. These days generally in the summer and near a pub!) Try also Swords of a thousand men by Tenpole Tudor and Stand and deliver by Adam Ant. Love that your reaction videos are so eclectic Ty and this brought back great memories of my early twenties. 🥰
He wasn't swatting at flys it's the ancient version of the "Dab"😂😂😂
Where are you coming up with all these blasts from the past, Ty? "Bein high & swatting at things that aren't even there" Just about fell out of my chair laughing.
This song came out when MTV was introduced only music videos 24hrs a day.my teenage years.
3:18 Trys the silly arms move .. smiles & laughs
YES!
Thats exactly it. Its a happy bouncy tune with silly arm dance. But it makes folks smile
awesome song from the 80's!!! Love it!!!! another song that you hear and just start singing..LOL
The meaning of the song is a protest against people not allowed to "pogo" dance in night clubs. Bar owners and bouncers thought the crowed would get out of hand and stop them.
I don't know if its true but i heard they banned certain dancing for teenagers in Germany back in the day. Well at least provocative dancing so they could do a 'SAFETY DANCE' as a way round it. Kinda like footloose i think haha. Such a fun song
MAN, that was Big Hit back when.
Dont play... 😃
First DAB move
if i remember correctly this song was used in the b movie "bio dome" Pauly Shore, Stephen Baldwin, 1996
You are correct! Stupid but great movie!
LOL wow took me back some years with this one My Friend..a song that I couldn't understand then and still can't LOL..but catchy still..TY Keep Well Keep Strong My friend
The song was making fun of rules to prevent "dangerous" dancing at concerts. It's hilarious.
These guys were actually punk rockers who were getting thrown out of clubs for Slam Dancing. So they actually wrote this song making fun of the clubs. Now as for their name they were actually from a very cold climate and they refuse to wear hats that would throw off their outfits so they became Men Without Hats.
This song has always been about just having fun to me. I don't read too much into it, just have a blast listening to it!
Early Eighties... it definitely is spot on for the style of the day, right up there with Flock of seagulls. It was a fun song.
FYI this was in response to bouncers throwing out "pogoing" dancers out of clubs. When New Wave emerged "pogoing" came with it, that was basically just jumping straight up and down with arms at your sides, but then others took it to the extreme with slam dancing and bouncers just started tossing anyone that was dancing that way. And Thus the song, a protest to unfair bias of the "safer" pogoing as opposed to the more dangerous slam dancing.
This song is awesome 🤣🤣
Been killing the 80's past couple of nights! I love it. This is a fun song.
MTV crammed this one in our heads. Before you knew it you were digginit and sick of it at the same time lol
Listening this song while drunk with your friends is something else...
To this day I have no idea what the safety dance was supposed to be all about, but I have fun singing along all the same.
First heard on the radio in the '80s.
Always loved the dwarf in this.
React to talking heads once in a lifetime music video please MRM
That’s a good song! I first heard that song when I saw the trailer for the movie W over 10 years ago.
Yes, I certainly recommend the Talking Heads song "Once in a Lifetime."
I really like that song AND the video is kinda funny too.. 🤣🤣
Oh they have a lot of fun (strange) songs to enjoy
ua-cam.com/video/jShMQw2H2cM/v-deo.html
Very much from the '80s, and I loved it, even bought the album on vinyl.
The video is an instructional on how to perform the safety dance. It burns calories. In real life, the closest I've come to doing the safety dance is after making an eagle in golf.
Hazel O'Connor 'Eighth Day' followed by 'Will You' which has one of he best saxophone solos ever
Love this song, forgot about it... Thanks, Ty ❣👍
Aww, it wasn't the version where the lady spells out the word as "ssss aaaa fffff eeee ttttt yyyyy". 😞
I was in High School.
When MTV still played music videos.
I grew to hate this song, but only because I had to play it so many times. However, one of those great cheesy early MTV videos, back when MTV was actually music videos 24/7. Oh, BTW, it was released in 1982.
Check out "She Blinded Me With Science" by Thomas Dolby, of the video that changed everything, "Sledgehammer" by Peter Gabriel.
It's about mosh pits, he was really into the punk scene and loved pits. At the time bouncers would stop you or kick you out. So this was him telling them to back off and let the kids dance because it was safe.
The more you know.
alright, so the story behind this weird Canadian tune is that he and some friends were kicked out of a nightclub for trying to dance with pogosticks
Awesome physical commentary TY!
I have always loved this odd one.
This was a real banger when it came out. I was 16 and it was huge at all the school dances and parties. Just so different.
Ty, man, you are a natural at the Safety Dance!
Reminds me of me & my friend doing the Safety dance 😂 wonderful memories 😊 cute reaction Ty 👍 a fun song 💚
Another fun song from the 80's. Wish we had more of this these days.
I was young when the song came out, but I can imagine I had the same expressions on my face when I first saw the video.
Flashback brain freeze 🙂 This was a great new wave dance song back in the 80's, that really didn't have much meaning, just flirty & fun !!! 👍
Typical, crazy 80s dance song that made no sense but was fun and fun to dance to.
haha this gonna be fun "the safety dance" curious to see how you react to this lol
My exact thoughts too. Love this song.
I always thought this video was funny and the song is actually fairly catchy. I remember the MTV show 'Beavis and Butthead' making fun of the video. I think that is actually the first time I had ever heard the song was from that show LOL
My funeral song 😉
Renneseance Festival gone horribly wrong...C'mon it was the 80's.
The song was about how kids in Montreal (where the band was from) kept getting into trouble for ‘dangerous’ dancing, like pogoing or slam dancing, and civic officials were going to regulate what dances were allowed. So,the song was sort of making of fun of that with a ‘safety dance’ that would be allowed, and how ridiculous the whole idea was.
They were throwing everything at the wall back then.
I;ve listened to this song since i was a kid but I never saw the video. I was not expecting that at all.
It was about being able to pogo and dance at venues. You’re welcome.
Loved loved loved this bro @MRM I’m watching this with my 5yr old niece and she also was copying the hand actions 😅😅. She made up a few lines of her own “you can dance you can dance everybody look at your pants” 🤦♀️😂😂😂 #TheSimpsons hahaha 🤣🤣
Hey sis!
Modern Renaissance Man hey bro! sorry just catching this now
Proof positive that anyone could land a record deal in the 80s
You be doing some 80's one hit wonders, Try "I wanna Be A Cowboy" by Boys Don't Cry.
You should try "Where the Boys Are" by Men Without Hats. Quicker tempo believe it or not. LOL
Quintessential vintage MTV! 😆
Saw him at an 80’s show last year and the whole audience sang and danced.......
I was thinking about thus song the other week. I was with some friends at a Turkish cultural festival and we heard someone say something that sounded like lyrics from this song. I'm not sure if it was intentional or not, but all three of us simultaneously broke out into song like we were in a musical.
This is like a response to the anti-disco movement!! I like the song!! Lets Dance because we can!! Good exercise and cardio!! Gidee up!!
Most '80s videos made absolutely no sense. That's the beauty of them. The fact that the song is sung by a guy who can NOT dance at all is even better. This song hit in fall of 1983; there were two versions. This was the hit single, but the full-length album version which was more minimally arranged also got played on the radio a lot. Men Without Hats had another hit single about 3 or 4 years later with "Pop Goes the World," but that's it for their chart successes. "The Safety Dance" hit #3 late in 1983.
I recommend Mental As Anything "Live it Up" (1985).
You should check out the literal video / lyrics version of this song and film clip. Soooo funny.
Love this original song so much as well . Makes you want to tap your toes :)
EVERYBODY loves the Safety Dance
You're cruisin' today!
The 80s just had such a positive outlook, and it was reflected in the music. Not all of course, but there was a lot of it.
TY loved your reaction.
now you've seen it all my guy. 🤘👊